The District 5-3A baseball tournament begins Wednesday at Walker Valley High School with two games pitting four teams fighting to keep their seasons alive.
Soddy-Daisy (12-17), the No. 4 seed, and seventh-seeded Cleveland (11-20) open the tournament at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. At 7 p.m., No. 5 East Hamilton (13-17) takes on No. 7 McMinn County (15-15).
The winners of those games will play on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
and that winner will advance to the best-of-three round against top-seeded Ooltewah (24-6) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Second-seeded Bradley Central (22-6) plays No. 3 Walker Valley (19-11) at 3 p.m.
All games will be played at Walker Valley High School, which will also host the District 5-3A softball tournament starting on Friday.
The Owls turned in a strong season to capture their first regular-season title since 2013 when they also claimed the tournament championship before losing to Cookeville in the Region 3-3A title game and Riverdale in the sectionals.
Ooltewah’s Ethan Walls was named the regular-season District 5-3A Player of the Year and Brian Hitchcox was selected as the league’s coach of the year.
The Owls, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A by coachT.com, which rates teams on strength of schedule, also placed Jake Sullivan, Andy Reed, Andrew Manning, Daniel Willie and Sam Zettel on the all-district team.
Runner-up Bradley Central, ranked No. 6, had five players on the team: Logan Newberry, Dylan Standifer, Colton Cross, Pete Williams and Byron Mantooth.
The full of the all-district team is listed below.
The tournament championship game is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.
All-District 5-3A Team
Regular Season
Player of the Year – Ethan Walls, Ooltewah
Coach of the Year – Brian Hitchcox, Ooltewah
Ooltewah – Jake Sullivan, Andy Reed, Andrew Manning, Daniel Willie, Sam Zettel
Bradley Central – Logan Newberry, Dylan Standifer, Colton Cross, Pete Williams, Byron Mantooth
Walker Valley – Grayson Rountree, Jacob McCall, Tucker Mendenhall, Brady Swafford
Soddy-Daisy – Dylan Perry, Logan Workman, Jacob Jennings
East Hamilton – Nick Woods, Drew Cantrell
McMinn County – Carson Pope, Cooper Roberts
Cleveland – Camden Sewell, Jake Griffin